The exhibition, titled Plundered by the Germans in 1939-1945 and Never Returned, opened on Tuesday, coinciding with the 87th anniversary of Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939.
The exhibition showcases works of art and cultural objects plundered from Poland by Germany during World War II.
Jacek Ozdoba, a Polish member of the European Parliament and a co-author of the exhibition, highlighted one of the main works featured: a photograph of Italian Renaissance artist Raphael Santi's early 16th-century painting Portrait of a Young Man.
The painting is one of Poland's most valuable artworks to have disappeared during the war. Its current location remains unknown, while its frame is held by the Czartoryski Museum in the southern Polish city of Kraków, Ozdoba said.
Arkadiusz Mularczyk, another Polish MEP and one of the exhibition's initiators, said the consequences of those events remain unresolved between Poland and Germany, with "the lack of political will on Germany's side" contributing to that.
He said hundreds of thousands of Polish artworks and cultural objects were stolen, destroyed or lost during the war, and many were transported to Germany.
MEP Adam Bielan mentioned the successful return of the Gaude Mater Polonia manuscript, which was recovered in June.
Photo: EPA/CLEMENS BILAN
According to Bielan, European and international pressure, as well as efforts by Polish politicians, contributed to its recovery.
He also said that 517,000 artifacts and artworks had yet to be returned by Germany to Poland.
According to Poland's Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), a state historical body with prosecutorial powers, there is strong historical evidence that German authorities had plans to seize Polish cultural property and take control of archaeological sites, castles, churches and museums early in the occupation.
Article 56 of the 1907 Hague Regulations on the protection of cultural property and works of art prohibits the seizure or destruction of artworks, the IPN said.
Poland's culture ministry says German authorities knowingly violated the Hague Convention while issuing regulations designed to give the confiscation of Polish cultural property the appearance of legality.
(sp/gs)
Source: PAP